Four Crises: A Wife's View

Jihan Sadat, 43, is Westernized in her dress and in her outlook on social problems. The presidential consort, however, stays out of politics completely and was kept in the dark by her husband during the four major crises of his career: the 1952 revolution that overthrew King Farouk, an attempted coup by ambitious leftists in 1971, the October War of 1973, and his journey to Jerusalem in November. Last month, in an interview with TIME Cairo Bureau Chief Wilton Wynn, she recalled in revealing fashion these pivotal moments.

1952 Revolution. At the time, my husband was in Rafah, in the Sinai, on military duty. On July 23 he came home unexpectedly. I knew he didn't have a leave coming, and I asked him why he was in Cairo. He told me he wanted to give me a holiday, and took me to the cinema. When we returned home, the porter handed me a card that had been left by Colonel Nasser. It said 'Our project is on for tonight.' My husband said nothing, but he immediately put on his uniform. I knew that something big and dangerous was about to happen and I warned him 'If you go to prison again [he had left prison only four years before] I will not visit you.' I was joking, but even so it surprised him. How ashamed I was the next day for saying it!

Early the next morning, around 6 a.m., he telephoned me. I scolded him. I said 'You wanted to give me a holiday, and instead you have left me and stayed out all night.' 'Just wait,' he said. 'Turn on the radio and listen.' About one hour later I heard his voice announcing the success of the revolution against King Farouk. I didn't see him again till three days later. He was still wearing the same uniform. He had not been out of it since that first night.

The 1971 Attempted Coup. Several members of parliament came to me and said I must warn my husband of a plot against him. I told him, but he left me infuriated by his calm. I asked him 'Who is with you? Not the Minister of Defense, not the Minister of the Interior, not the Minister of Information. None is with you.' He only said 'Don't worry. God is with us.' He is so calm, he makes me furious. It doesn't mean that he doesn't trust me, only that he doesn't want to worry me. A little while after that we got hold of a tape recording of a conversation by the plotters. My husband was planning to go to Alexandria next day, and we heard on the tape that they were thinking of assassinating him on his way there. But he canceled his trip and went to Cairo instead.

We didn't sleep that night, the night before the climax of the whole thing. My husband always sleeps with a pistol beside his bed. It is his habit. That night I wanted to lock the bedroom door, and told him 'This way, if they come, you will be ready with your pistol.' A general who was our friend called to ask if my husband had ordered military trucks to move toward our house. The trucks were moving, and we thought they were against us. (We later learned they were sent to protect us.) I went upstairs to my oldest daughter, Lubna, and suggested she sleep that night in the house of my sister. She was only 17, but she said 'If they blow up the house, do you think we would be happy living without our father and mother?' She took her book and went upstairs to bed. My son Gamal was only 15, but he got his small bird gun and insisted on being bodyguard. 'I want to protect my father,' he said. The next day, my husband arrested all the plotters.

The October War. My husband had been having many meetings with military people. I suspected that war was near. From their conversations I calculated the date and almost the time. But I didn't have the right to ask my husband. He might not answer, or he might tell me it's not my business.

On the night before, I was so sure that war was going to break out that I asked him if I should keep the children home from school the next day. He said 'No, send them along, like all the others.' I said that at least I would keep our car in front of the school, just in case. He agreed, but advised me not to bother till noon. I knew then that the war would break out around midday.

The day before, we had been walking in the garden. Even though he hadn't told me of what was coming, I tried to encourage him. I said 'We are going to win. Even if you don't win, people will respect you because you will have done your duty.' He answered 'I know I am doing my duty. I know I will win.' As a wife, I wanted to encourage him, but he didn't need it.

The Jerusalem Trip. He didn't mention it to me before. Some time earlier a Jewish woman in Israel had sent me a letter asking for the body of her son, a frogman killed during the October War. I answered to tell her that we had been unable to locate the body. My husband scolded me for contacting Israelis. He said it was too early.

Then he surprised us all with the announcement of his trip to Jerusalem. The night he mentioned it in his speech to the Egyptian parliament, I was out to dinner. When I came home, my daughter Jihan said 'Daddy is going to Jerusalem!' When he came home I asked him if he really had said it. He said yes. I asked him if he meant it, and he answered 'Yes, I meant it.' I told him 'It's the best way to peace.' I asked him 'Do you think the Israelis will send you an invitation?' He said 'I think so.'

It was the best thing he ever had said in his life, and I knew he would go safe and return safe.

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